Celtic manager Ronny Deila got his first taste of the Celtic support in Dublin tonight.
A month into his new job the Norwegian travelled to Dublin for the 16th annual dinner of the Affiliation of Irish Celtic Supporters Club’s.
Deila will take charge of his first match next week when he takes Celtic to Austria for pre-season training but will get his first taste of the club’s support at tonight’s event in the Irish capital.
Joining the manager on the trip is club chairman Ian Bankier, Anthony Stokes, Stefan Johansen, Kris Commons, Darnell Fisher and the SPFL trophy.
After resuming training on Tuesday Deila will take his squad to Austria tomorrow as the serious build up to the new season.
Deila is likely to leave the Austria training camp to watch KR Reykjavik with the Norwegian well aware of how important the next few weeks will be.
“I think in many ways Icelandic football is ahead of many other countries,” he explained. “But I think their league is much lower quality than the national team because so many players go abroad.
“They are hard-working players with a good team spirit. They will be well organised, too but we are Celtic. We should be a better team than them over two matches. Now it’s all about doing everything right in pre-season to get the squad as best physically and mentally prepared for these games.
“We will try to do everything right in Austria to build up the physical shape of the players as quickly as possible and in the best way, without getting injuries. Then we will be very focused on this game.”